How much did the Anti-Glazer movement cost us this season?
Speaking after his move to Birmingham, Foster offered a players perspective of the Green & Gold movement stating,
“The fans are obviously passionate about the club but sometimes they need to focus on supporting the club a bit more than getting carried away with the technicalities of who’s in charge.”
When pushed further and asked about the impact the movement had on the team’s onfield performances and if it could have been a reason as to why we failed to pick up more trophies than we did Foster claimed,
“Yes, it’s a bit of a distraction when the fans are doing the chants at every game and things like that.”
Although Foster later backtracked and claimed as a consumate professional once you are on the pitch your mind is on the game etc it does make you think, would he have said it if he didn’t mean it? And do other players in the dressing room feel the same way?
In the midst of the Red Knights plans to take over the club some sections of the fans criticised the consortium as they felt their actions were destabilising the team and as a result the group decided to put off any move for the club until after the season ended stating,
“In the next few weeks we will continue to work on our proposal, we do not expect this to be finalised before the end of the season. This will have the advantage of minimising external distractions as the team enters the decisive period of the season.”
So the consortium too must have understood that their actions alongside MUST’s could have been having an adverse effect on the team.
Personally I think it’s a cop out for anyone especially Foster to try and blame our shortcomings this season on the off field activity. The fans protest didn’t cause the defensive injuries that damaged our squad neither were they the cause of a number of things that didn’t go our way either. Like Foster said once you are on the field your mind should be on the task at hand and that is winning the game and there are enough players in the team with the experience to do so.
The efforts of the Red Knights and MUST in both the short and long term to me seem spot on as the ever present Green & Gold showed the Glazers that we as the fans are unhappy with their mistreatment of the club so what ever happened on field is a completely different story.
As a team that can take its licks and hold its hands up and accept when we have been bested it sounds like an excuse, hopefully one not shared by any of the players or many of the fans.